It takes him a second to react to my voice behind him. He lowers the phone from his ear and turns slowly until he’s facing me.

“Hi.”

God, that was hella lame, Andy.

I’ve practiced what I would say to him a thousand times but as soon as he’s standing in front of me, I can’t manage anything more than hi.

His dark eyebrows raise, and he slips his phone onto the table in front of him. I definitely surprised him. And that’s exactly what I wanted. I wanted to catch him off guard so I could gauge his real reaction to me. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

Shit. What am I doing?

I already got my apology. Maybe I should have let it go at that. “Um, I wanted to talk to you. And I called the museum hoping you had come back to work here. They told me you were back. Someone led me down here when I arrived.”

He examines me, his eyes roving over me from head to foot. I wasn’t sure what the proper attire was for confronting the guy who abandoned you after an amazing night of hot sex, so I went with a cute skirt and a wrap top that shows off my tits. At the very least, I can show him what he left.

But he hasn’t said anything, and the tension in the air is starting to frazzle my nerves more than I’d like to admit.

“Do you want me to go?”

My question snaps him back, and he shakes his head. “No, I’m just…really surprised to see you. I thought you wouldn’t ever want to see me again after the way we left things.”

“The way you left things.”

He sighs and pushes his hand back through his hair. “Yes. The way I left things.”

At least he’s admitting he was a dick here. I thought I’d be more angry when I saw him for the first time, but the only thing I feel right now is the pull of ardent attraction between us. Even now, after everything that’s happened, it’s still there, beckoning me to him.

One step, then another, and another drive me closer to him, around the edge of the table until I’m standing in front of him.

He’s just as devastatingly handsome as he was that first day in my office, and now that I know what he has happening under all those clothes, it’s hard not to imagine what he looked like naked and tied up in my bed.

“How mad are you?”

I shake my head and press my palms against his chest. “I’m not mad. I was hurt, then I got mad, then I kind of got over it. We both lost a lot because of our choices.”

That’s an understatement, but the truth, nonetheless.

Rafe sighs and reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. The familiar movement sends flashes of that night through my head, and my body heats at the memories. His hand lingers against my cheek, and he watches me like he’s waiting for some response.

“What do we do now?” His words are nothing more than a whisper, but the question is one I’ve been asking myself over and over again.

I reach up and press my hand over his. “Well, we either say our goodbyes or…”

The words catch in my throat. I’m not usually one to hold back, but with everything that’s happened with Rafe, it feels like unsteady ground.

His thumb brushes over my cheek. “Or?”

Suck it up and say it, Andy.

“Or, you kiss me and we see where this goes.”

He doesn’t react right away, just stares at me with something akin to wonder in his dark eyes. “You’re willing to forgive and forget so easily?”

I shake my head and grin at him. “Oh, I forgive you, but I won’t forget. You’ll pay me back in other ways.”

A million different ideas take hold. Some involving his belt again.

Damn, that was hot. We were hot. Scalding.

And I pray I’m not throwing myself out on a limb here for something that will never happen again. I can understand if he doesn’t want to get involved with me. It would be a constant reminder of the clusterfuck we created. One I’m still trying to recover from.

The fact that I’m still jobless weighs heavily on me but not as much as how things were left with Rafe. But now, standing here staring at him, I’m wondering if maybe this was a mistake.

I pull my hand back down and shift away from him, but instead of letting me go, he steps into me, pressing his chest against mine and stopping his lips mere millimeters from mine.

His warm breath fans over my mouth. He smells like peppermint, and the scent swirling around me only reminds me more of our night together.

A shudder rolls through my body, and I clench my legs together to help dull the aching throb there.

Something very hard and warm presses into my stomach, and he takes my face between his palms, tilting my head up until I meet his eyes again.

“Don’t go.”

It’s all I wanted to hear. Well, that and the apology I already received.

Before I can respond, his lips descend on mine. The sweet kiss doesn’t remain soft and light. It deepens quickly, his lips and tongue demanding against my own.

A groan rumbles in his chest, and he walks me backward until my ass hits the edge of the table. Something on the table rolls and the legs wobble slightly.

He chuckles against my mouth. “I hope this table holds up. I have plans for you.”